You're not Atrus...
by fireweilder
Summary: Takes place on Narayan before Saavedro finds out who you really are... Updated for the impacient people
1. To Narayan

Disclaimer: I own only my true desperation to be consumed into the world known as Riven

Notes: this takes place on Narayan before Saavedro is set free. This is the first confrontation between the player and Saavedro. When he realizes you are not Atrus…

"Your not Atrus…" POV of the player

Fireweilder

I arrived on Narayan fearing the moment I appeared, Saavedro would realize who I really was. Not Atrus. Not his sons. Just his good friend who touched the book first. His six messages were meant for Atrus, not for me. Atrus would know what to do. He would know what Saavedro was talking about. He wrote the J'nanin Age, made for his sons to be taught by Saavedro. No wonder Saavedro hated Atrus so much.

But my fears were met by a painful silence. Was this Narayan? I looked out around my surroundings, pacing myself. If one thing had been taught to me through my wonderings it is not to rush ahead. The smallest thing can lead to truth. I still carried Atrus' journal around, still leafing through the countless pages of history and journey searching for an answer to question it didn't know.

The red tapestries on the wall struck my memory hard. Of course! The three symbols! But how? The symbols were connected. How would I ever find the right ones, it would takes far too long. Again my mind knew there had to be an answer.

_If the sons of Atrus can learn this, so can I… Just don't forget what happened to them._

But I would never become what I hated. I still remember their lies they told me on Myst. Thank the Maker I opened the green book they had warned me against. What would history write if I had trusted them?

I tore threw the journal again, re-reading pages I couldn't understand

_Energy powers future motion_

_Nature encourages mutual dependence_

_Dynamic forces spur change_

I knew they were applied to those three ages that opened Narayan, but how were they applied here? What of the fourth saying? The symbols had word at the bottom on the tapestry, woven in the same gold thread as the symbols. Suddenly I understood. The symbols were words from Atrus' rhymes. So I gathered the nine symbols into my journal, the same on I had used in Myst, and moved on. I made a note that the symbols for the fourth saying were not all here on the tapestries, but also saw, one of them were torn down.

I saw two consoles perched near the ice walls. I tried to open them, by both of them were deprived of power. Like Voltaic, power was needed to power them. I turned and saw a stairwell behind the wall ice, leading downstairs. I pushed in vain against the ice but it didn't move or disappear, so I turned again back from where I came. I then noticed another stairwell, this one leading up. I had no choice but to follow the winding iron stairs up.

As I reached the top, the light became brighter from outside the ice wall. I also saw the power cells for the consuls downstairs so I reached toward them. The door at the end of the walkway opened. I herd it but I tried to keep my head down as I heard two heavy feet fall onto the iron gateway. But my eyes lifted, confirming my worst fears.

Saavedro

* Hope you enjoyed. More will come if I feel like it. Or if you tell me to.*


	2. To Hell

You'er not Atrus…

Fireweilder

I remember his eyes. That is all I remember. The eyes were so dark, tunnels that never ended. All light that they may have once possessed was gone, diminished with age and sorrow. He stared at me, realizing I could not be whom he had wanted. He told me I was stuck here, forever. He said he has been here twenty years and has never been able to get beyond the ice wall. He warned me too. He warned me against leaving. He said he would follow me if I left. He would kill me as well.

When he left, I sunk to the floor, weeping bitterly against the little hope that had died I my heart. But I regained my sane mind and went back to the puzzle pieces. With the power on, I now had control of the consols. Walking down the stairs again, I looked back toward the place Savvedro had retreated to. The door was locked, but I still remembered his eyes. I swore I could feel him watching me.

As I had thought, the console now had power, but it now lead to a far more confusing pattern. But the more I looked at it, the more I understood. I drew the symbols for each age into the console. When I did each age correctly, it glowed a bright gold and hummed. When they all were right, the ice wall in front of the stairs going down melted away.

I quickly hurried down, eager to be free from this place, when I saw a book. The book was labeled "Tomana", the home of Atrus. I so wanted to touch the page and be rid of Saavedro and this horrible history lesson, but I couldn't. Reeleashan still wasn't mine. I couldn't face Atrus with out it. So I took the book and headed down the hall

I was greeted with more tapestries and more symbols. The words now fit for the last line.

__

Balanced Systems stimulate civilizations

The line for Narayan.

I ran back upstairs, to the last console. The realization that I would soon be free filled my mind as I scrambled to draw the last symbols. Suddenly, the last line drawn, the console glowed and closed, the ice wall I had gone down by came back. But as it did, the entire shield around the base I was in melted.

The sky was a pink and the cloud a softer shade. Small islands floated through the air, one bigger then the rest. It seemed to be covered in trees, all of them were alight with strange glowing balls, clinging to the branches. A boat was attachedto a line, sailing from here to the Narayan. It was Narayan? But problem arose in my heart. The boat was behind the ice wall. I was about to investigate closer before he came.

I didn't fear him this time, for he looked so happy, that I nearly forgot who he was. He exclaimed that Narayan was still alive, but he too saw the boat behind the wall. He tried flipping the switch that connected the power between the two consoles. As the ice wall diminished, the outer wall appeared, blocking the path to Narayan. He cursed Atrus and got the wild look on his face again. The he turned on me. His eyes pierced me through so I could no move.

He was willing to give me the one thing I wanted. Reeleshan.

He was willing to give it to me freely. But I had to let him go home. I had to switch the switches and free him. I wanted to. I wanted to see him go home free, but I couldn't trust him, not yet. Time was running out. He was getting impatient; his threatens coming back to me. So I did the only sure thing I could. I ran quickly past the wooded twined doorframe, thankfully passing from his view. I ran upstairs as quickly but as silent as I could. I think he saw me near then end, but it was too late for him. I threw the power and both the ice shields came up.

I saw Savvedro collapse on the floor, sobbing of betrayal from Atrus, his dreadful sons and me. He feared another thousand years, exiled 100 feet from his home, he had though destroyed. I nearly threw back the power but my hand was steadied by my common sense. I ran back downstairs, to speak to Savvedro through the door. He begged me to let him free. He said I couldn't leave him when his family could still be alive. Then he gave me Reeleshan.

He gave me Reeleshan. Even now I find it hard to imaging the terror that struck his heart when he saw my face. I realized what I now held and had reached in and pulled out the linking book to "Tomahn". I had opened the page and dissapeared. Even through the pages I hear him wailing, calling for me to set him free. I had left him in complete misery. Did he deserve it? I don't know, not even all these years later.

As I appeared to the greatful air and sent of Tomahn. I must have stood there for an hour, reliving all the horror I had seen and all I needed to say to Atrus. I stepped the familiar steps toward Atrus' study when the doors flew open.

"Thank the Maker! You've returned! Atrus, Atrus, come quick!"

I could hardly see her but I knew Catherine's voice when she was calling Atrus' name. He appeared next to Catherine, coming out from his study. Immediately, he grabbed for Reeleshan and opened it, caring more for it then anything else. At last he sighed relief and twenty years were washed from his face.

"You must tell us everything." Said Catherine

Later, after I had told him everything, Atrus turned toward the window. I knew what he was thinking. Would Atrus have left Savvedro, alone with no help? No. I knew that I moment I told him. Maybe one day he would return to the same place I had trapped him, tell him everything. Maybe then he will free him from his exile. But I'm not you Atrus. Odd now that I say the same thing that Savvedro had said to Atrus on J'nanin. But it is the truth. 

I' m not you Atrus


End file.
